microscopic

comparative more microscopic · superlative most microscopic

1. Of, or relating to microscopes or microscopy; microscopal

   We supply all microscopic stains and other materials.

2. So small that it can only be seen with the aid of a microscope.

   The water was full of microscopic organisms.

   1 more example

   Yiannas said there has been widespread public confusion about cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness caused by the microscopic parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis, also known as cyclospora, that can cause explosive diarrhea.

   2026 July 25, Oliver Milman, “Former FDA official says US handling of cyclospora near ‘catastrophic level’”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 26 Jul 2026

3. Very small; minute

   Compared to the galaxy, we are microscopic in scale.

   2 more examples

   By wholesale omission of connections and by the use of a microscopic scale of photographic reproduction which makes some of the most important tables difficult to read, the size has been cut down from last winter's 580 to 520 pages only.

   1961 October, “The winter timetables of British Railways: London Midland Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 593

   ... the notion of the microscopic was often used in the foundations of quantum theory right from the start, to indicate the realm in which quantum theory is required in order to explain phenomena when classical theory cannot do so; quantum theory was generally considered in those years to apply only to situations involving atoms and smaller “microscopic” entities...

   2014 September, Gregg Jaeger, “What in the (quantum) world is macroscopic?”, in American Journal of Physics, volume 82, number 9, pages 896–905

4. figurativelyCarried out with great attention to detail.

   The police carried out a microscopic search of the crime scene.

5. Able to see extremely minute objects.

   Why has not man a microscopic eye?

   1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC